Eddie Hayes, 55, owes his life to the many people who worked so hard to save it, including members of the public, Whangārei Hospital staff and the team at Northland Rescue Helicopter. Photo / Brodie Stone
Eddie Hayes, 55, owes his life to the many people who worked so hard to save it, including members of the public, Whangārei Hospital staff and the team at Northland Rescue Helicopter. Photo / Brodie Stone
Northland Rescue Chopper’s 2025 annual appeal is under way and runs until mid-January. The funds raised go towards the life-saving operation. This year, Whangārei’s Eddie Hayes shares his story from 2023 when he collapsed on the Hātea Loop.
On a winter’s morning in July, Eddie Hayes had just passedhis family on his morning run with his dog, poking fun at how slow they were.
Minutes later, they came across a man undergoing CPR. It was Eddie.
Aged 53 at the time, he had gone into cardiac arrest and collapsed metres from the footbridge, whacking his head on the concrete as he went down.
A nurse, physio and surf lifesaver happened to be nearby – they jumped into action and began CPR.
Wife Kellie said Eddie kept spluttering and foaming at the mouth while the trio worked away.
The time he was being worked on felt like ages, she said.
Eddie was in cardiac arrest for 10 minutes before he was shocked back to life by Hato Hone St John paramedics, who had turned up within eight minutes of being called.
After being intubated and stabilised, he was placed into an induced coma at Whangārei Hospital.
That was when the Northern Rescue Helicopter team came on board to transport Eddie to North Shore Hospital.
Critical care paramedic Andrew Fergusson said getting Eddie south was vital.
He was still in precarious condition, so any jolts could send him back into cardiac arrest, he said.
Northland Rescue Helicopter critical care paramedic Andrew Fergusson. Photo / Steve Macmillan
“I think the rescue helicopter provides a critical link between our area, our way of living, to the largest services that a lot of Northlanders end up needing,” Fergusson said.
Eddie spent four nights in the Intensive Care Unit and received a stent. A blood clot blocking 90% of an artery in his heart had caused his cardiac arrest.
Up until two weeks ago, he joked about the trip as “a taxi ride” to the hospital.
But meeting Fergusson earlier this month was what helped him put the pieces together.
An emotional Eddie shared how amazed he was at the passion and dedication of those involved.
“That’s when I became extremely grateful,” he said.
Fergusson said it was humbling to see Eddie turn up at the hangar in good health, particularly as it was often rare to hear how patients were after their involvement.
Eddie described the chopper as an “intensive care room that flies”, fitted out with everything needed to keep alive a person whose life might hang in the balance.
Two years on from his accident, he said with a choked-up voice that the work NEST does “keeps families together”.
The incident was particularly traumatic for his wife and daughter, having seen him holding on to life by a thread.
“I didn’t know what was going on, I just woke up, and I didn’t really connect all of the dots between when it happened and everybody that was involved.”
Despite his near-death experience, Eddie suffered no permanent damage to his heart or brain.
“I thought egotistically that a lot of my recovery was due to the effort that I put in immediately after,” he said.
But really, it was down to the vital links in the very long chain that pulled him back to life.
“The result of me still being okay and everything was the case that was given to me from the moment I fell over to being in the hospital, and post-care.”
Aside from having to run on a treadmill instead of outdoors for Kellie’s peace of mind, his life is pretty much normal.
Eddie was now one of more than 850 lives touched by Northland Rescue Helicopter this year.
He believed the work their crew did was ever-important, especially considering the increasing number of people having cardiac arrests.
As for why people should support NEST, “that’s really easy to answer, simply because it saves lives”, he said.
To donate to NEST, use this link or email info@nest.org.nz to enquire about sponsorships.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.
